Wim Wenders will head Venice jury

Filmmaker won Golden Lion for 'The State of Things'

ROME -- Filmmaker Wim Wenders will head the jury at the 65th annual Venice Film Festival, organizers said Friday, extending a 35-year relationship between the German Oscar nominee and the Venice event.

Wenders first appeared on the Lido in 1972 with "Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter" (The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty Kick), his first feature film. He won the Golden Lion in Venice a decade later for "Der Stand der Dinge" (The State of Things) and has since taken home two sidebar prizes from Venice.

Wenders received an Oscar nomination for his 1999 documentary "Buena Vista Social Club."

The choice of Wenders silences weeks of rumors that Meryl Streep -- another Venice regular -- was in line for the jury president job.

He will preside over a jury that will pick a winner from a 22-film competition lineup that for each of the past two years was made up entirely of world premieres. He also is the first jury president of Marco Mueller's second mandate as the Venice artistic director.